Cotton-seed planter.



110.043,942. Patenten Feb. 20,1900. J. P. CALDWELL.-

COTTON SEED PLAN`TER.

(Application. med Nov. 10, 1899.)

(no Model.) l 2 sheetssheet l.

A TTOHNE YS No. 643,942. l Patentes! Feb. 20, |900. J. P. CALDWELL.

COTTON SEED PLA'NTEB.

I Application ed Nov. 10, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet v2.

fNo Model.)

\ WITNESS/5S vA fr0/m5 ys UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES PHILO OALDVELL, OF VINNSBOROUGH, SOUTH CAROLINA. Y

COTTON-SEED PLANTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,942, dated February20, 1900.

Application filed November 10, 1899. Serial No. 736,454- (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, it may concern.:

Be it known that I, JAMEs PHrLo CALD- WELL, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Winnsborough, in the county of Fairfield and Stateof South Carolina, have invented a new and Improved Cotton-Seed Planter,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to that class of machines employed for plantingcotton-seed at regular distances apart and in uniform quantities, so asto avoid the necessity of chopping out the rows of cotton-plants afterthe plant has grown.

One object of the invention is to improve upon the construction of themachine for which Letters Patent were granted to me July 19, 1898, No.607,502, and to so construct the machine that the seed will be betteragitated in the hopper and more positively fed to the seed-drop wheel.

It is also an object of the invention to construct the seed-drop wheelof metal, providing it with integral pockets and an improved means forlocking pistons in the pockets, so that any desired number of pocketsmay be closed for any length of time.

Another object of the invention is to improve the means for regulatingthe drop of the pistons, and consequently the depth of the pockets, andto provide a single drive-belt for the stirrers or agitators and theseed-drop wheel.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of theseveral parts, as Will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed outin the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved planter. Fig. 2 is atransverse section through the hopper of the planter, the frame, and theseed-drop wheel. Fig, 3 is a longitudinal section taken practically onthe line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section through the seed-drop Wheel,taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is a side View of a part ofthe seed-drop wheel, portions being broken away, illustrating the mannerin which the piston belonging to a pocket may be locked againstmovement.

A represents the hopper of the planter, which is secured in any approvedmanner to ahorizontalframe B, constructed, preferably, of parallel beamsplaced a suitable distance apart and connected at the front by a clevis10. A cover-board 11 is attached by arms 12 to the rear portion of theframe through the medium of bolts 13, so that this cover-board may beremoved from the machine whenever desired. A standard 14 islocated atthe front of the frame, slightly at the rear of the clevis, and thisstandard carries a furrow-opener 15 of any approved form, while betweenthe hopper A and the standard 14 a supportingwheel 16 is located in theframe, the shaft of which is journaled in suitable bearings 17, securedto the beams of the frame, as illustrated in Fig. 1, and one end 18 ofthe shaft of the su pporting-wheel 16 carries a sprocket- Wheel 19, asis also shown in Fig. 1. The usual handles 2O are secured to the hopper,(one at each side,) by means of which the machine is guided, the handlesbeing attached to the hopper by bolts 2O:L or their equivalents.

The front and rear portions 21 of the hopper, as illustrated in Fig. 3,incline downwardly in direction of the center of the hopper, and thebottom 22 of the hopper is in the form of a plate having its upper facecon- -veXed and its under face concaved and extending from the front tothe rear of the hopper, being attached to these parts by suitableflanges 23, and the bottom 22 of the hopper is provided with alongitudinal slot 24, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Ashaft 25 is journaledtransversely in the upper portion of the hopper A, and this shaftcarries agitators or stirrers C. (Shown best in Figs. 2 and 3.) Eachagitator or stirrer consists of a sleeve 26, secured to the shaft 25,and arms 27, radiating from the sleeve, the arms of the two stirrers oragitators being curved at their outer eX- tremities in direction of eachother and the arms of one stirrer intervening the arms of the opposingstirrer. The arms 27 of the stirrers are of such length that when theyare in their vertical lower position their curved ends will be in closeproximity to the bottom 22 of the hopper-one at each side of the slot 24therein. The shaft 25 is journaled in suitable bearings 28, secured tothe sides of the hopper, and the shaft 25 is provided at one IOO endwith a sprocket-wheel 2f). Preferably the bearings 2S are attached to orare integral with side braces 30, provided for the hopper A.

A shaft 3l is journaled at the lower central portion of the hopper, andsaid shaft carries a sprocketwheel 32, and a chain belt is carried overthe sprocket-wheels 19, 29, and 32. As the seed-drop wheel D is securedto the shaft 3l, the one belt 33 serves to drive the agitators orstirrers and the seed-drop wheel, power being derived from thesupporting-wheel 16.

The seed-drop wheel consists of a disk-body 34,havingamarginalflange35,which is adapted to travclbeneath the slot 24 in the bottom 22 of thehopper, as shown in Fig. 2, and a series of pockets 3G in the form ofpartial cylinders are made integral with the body within the flange 35,extending from a point near the center to the body of the said flange,and the tlange 35 is provided with openings 37, leading into the severalpockets 3G. Each pocket is provided with a longitudinal slot 3S,extending from the point near Where the pocket connects with the rim ofthe wheel through the opposite or inner end, and each pocket is furtherprovided at cach side of the inner end of the slot 3S with a lug 39. Apiston 40 is located in each pocket, being adapted to operate thereinthrough gravity, and each piston is provided with a wing-shank 41, onewing of each shank having an extension 42, that projects out through aslot 38 in the pocket containing the piston. The shanks of the pistonswhen the pistons are in their upper positions or are in side position,as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, extend out beyond the inner ends of theirpockets and engage with the peripheral surface of a regulatingwheel 43.This wheel is provided with peripheral teeth 44, corresponding in numberto the number of pockets, and the teeth are more or less convexed, asshown in Fig. 3. This regulating-wheel is adjustably secured to theshaft 31 by a set-screw 45 or its equivalent, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.lVhen the shank of a piston engages with the surface of a tooth adjacentto the rise of the next tooth, the piston will occupy such position inthe pocket to which it belongs as to enable the said pocket to receive amaximum quantity of seed, and when the shank of the piston is at thecrown of a tooth the piston will have been carried so near the peripheryof the seed-wheel that the pocket will receive but a small quantity ofseed. Thus it will be observed that by adjusting the regulatingwheel onthe shaft 3l any necessarydepth of pocket may be obtained.

A shield D' is secured at its upper end to the front of the hopper A.The rear surface of this shield is concaved and extends downward to apoint near the bottom of the seeddrop wheel, conforming to the contourthereof, so that as the wheel turns and the descending pockets arefilled with seed the seed cannot be discharged from the pockets untilthe pockets have passed the lower end of the shield, at which time thepistons through gravity will drop to the position shown at the bottom ofthe seed-drop wheel in Fig. 2, and the seed will be forced out from thepocket. lVhenever it is desired to close any one of the pockets, aCotter-pin 47 or its equivalent is passed through an opening in theextension 42 of the piston belonging to the pocket, the piston at suchtime having its outer face flush with the periphery of the seed-dropwheel, and this opening 46 is so placed that when the pin 47 has beenplaced as stated the pin will bear against the lug 39 on the pocket,preventing the piston from dropping downward, thus eifectually'closingthe pocket.

Instead of increasing the num berof pockets 36 on the planting-wheel inorder to vary the distance between hills I accomplish this result bychanging the diameters of the sprocketwheels 29 and 32,.which wheels arereadily slipped off from their shafts and replaced by others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. In a plan ter, a rotatable seed-drop wheel havingpockets and seed-ejecting pistons mounted to slide outwardly therein bygravity, and a regulating-wheel normally held to rotate with theseed-drop wheel and arranged to be engaged by the inner ends of saidpistons to limit the inward movement thereof, said regulating-wheelbeing adjustable on the seed-drop wheel to vary the innermost positionof the pistons.

2. In a cotton-seed planter, a hopper having inclined sides, an openingin the bottom, a shaft journaled above the opening, and stirrers oragitators secured on the said shaft, said stirrers or agitators eachcomprising a sleeve and arms radiating from the sleeves, the outerextremities of which arms are curved in direction of the center of thehopper, the arms of one agitator or stirrer intervening the arms of theopposing agitator or stirrer, as described.

3. In a cotton-seed planter, a seed-drop wheel, comprising a body havinga marginal flange, pockets formed on the body Within the Ilange,whichflange is provided with openings communicating With the pockets, pistonsmounted to slide outward in the pockets by gravity, the inner ends ofthe pistons being arranged to extend out through the inner ends of thepockets, and a regulating-wheel normally held to rotate with the bodyinwhich said pockets are formed, and having an undulating peripheralsurface, with which surface the inner ends of the pistons engage,asdescribed.

4. In a cotton-seed planter, the combination, with ahopperhavinginclined sides, an arched slotted bottom, and agitators mounted torevolve in the hopper above the bottom, of a shaft journaled below thebottom of the hop- IOO IIO

per, a seed-drop wheel secured to the said shaft, which wheel isprovided with a peripheral flange, pockets formed upon the said wheelwithin said iiange, pistons mounted to slide outward in the pockets bygravity, a regulating-wheel normally held to rotate with the shaftcarrying the seed-drop wheel, the regulating-wheel being adjustable ont-he shaft and provided with teeth and with convexed surfaces betweenthe teeth, the teeth and the convexed surfaces between them beingadapted for engagement by the inner ends of the pistons, and a shieldlocated in front of the peripheral portion of the seed-drop wheel, forthe purpose described.

5. In a cotton-seed plan ter,the combination, with ahopper havinginclined sides, an arched slotted bottom, and agitators mounted torevolve in the hopper above the bottom, of a shaft journaled below thebottom of the hopper, a seed-drop wheel secured to the said shaft, whichwheel is provided with a peripheral flange, y pockets formed upon thesaid Wheel within said flange, pistons mounted to slide outward in thepockets by gravity, a regulating-wheel normally held to rotate with theshaft carrying the seed-drop wheel, the regulating-wheel beingadjustable on the shaft and provided with teeth and with eonveXedsurfaces between the teeth, the teeth and the conveXed surfaces betweenthem being adapted for engagement by the inner ends of the pistons, anda shield located in front of the peripheral portion of the seed-dropwheel, a drive-belt for the stirrers or agitators and the seed-dropWheel, and means for locking the pistons in the pockets in a manner toclose the same, as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES PHILO CALDWELL.

